A former worker who oversaw the printing operation for the Cards app says it was a disaster, fifteen years after Apple launched the software. The app allowed users to create custom letterpress cards which Apple printed on 100 percent cotton paper and sent to recipients. It came from a Steve Jobs idea, and grew into a sprawling, continent-spanning mess.
Mike, a printing executive who worked alongside Apple’s production and fulfillment partner at the time, tells the tale. His version of events portrays a project that was technically ambitious, poorly managed, and deeply embarrassing for everyone involved.
A Dinner Walk and a Card Idea
Mike says the project started in 2011, when Steve Jobs was taking one of his customary walks after dinner. He told his fellow Apple employees, “Wouldn’t it be great if I could just right now on my iPhone send [the dinner companion] a thank you card?”, and Apple resolved to construct an iPhone app dedicated solely to building and sending cards. The project advanced quickly since it was initiated by Steve.
During Steve’s last year, the app came together and went live. The project began in early 2011, and it did not take on the card designs from iPhoto. Instead, it used fresh designs and letterpress templates and shells. Apple made sure that Cards could be printed and shipped in both the US and Europe.
The Printing Partner’s Long Road
A printing firm that had an existing arrangement with Apple brought Mike on board to manage printing for iPhoto. The company secured that work since it was already handling Apple’s in-box production of documentation, which included quick-start guides, instruction manuals, and similar materials. It held that exclusive partnership for several years.
The printing company saw an enormous amount of orders, particularly from Thanksgiving through Christmas, when card and calendar volume surged dramatically. To manage the load, the firm spun up several sister companies. Printing also went international: Mike, functioning as the program manager, set up print operations in the Czech Republic and Japan.
The Letterpress Challenge
In 2010, Apple added a new product to the iPhoto print lineup — codenamed Downieville. Apple wanted fine letterpress printing on very toothy cotton stock. Your photo would be digitally printed on these preprinted shells. This was an enormous technical challenge, Mike told the writer on a Zoom call.
The printing company had to work with a shop in upstate New York that had two dozen restored Heidelberg Letterpresses from the 1850s. The cards were heavily debossed by the letterpress contractor into that toothy paper. Debossing pushes down; embossing pushes up. Letterpress printing historically didn’t try to put much bite into printing, preferring what’s called a kiss impression — just perfectly laying the ink on top of the paper.
Invisible Barcodes and Human Error
Apple teamed up with the US Postal Service and the Czech Post on several parts of Cards that were particular to Apple’s desire to do things its own way. Among those requirements, Apple refused to put visible barcodes on the envelopes, even though it wanted tracking for every step of the shipping and delivery of your card. That kind of tracking wasn’t standard practice at the US Postal Service.
The printing firm and Apple devised a barcode that could be applied to the envelope without altering its appearance, visible only under particular UV light. The United States Postal Service concurred to examine cards at every stage of their journey, from when they were mailed to when they reached processing facilities, all the way through to when they were placed upon a mail truck for delivery.
Without any visible barcodes to work with, the job that would normally run on its own through machine means instead became almost entirely dependent on human labor. “We wanted to make sure your baby photos were never sent to someone else,” Mike explained to the writer. “It was not infallible. And when cards were mis-sent, it became an emergency-level event from Apple.”
The Mis-Sent Card Problem
Apple made mis-sent cards an emergency-level event because the system depended on people checking each envelope against its invisible barcode by hand. That approach is not reliable.
A Code Name Worth Remembering
Mike called the project Speed Racer, and he described it as the peak of incompetence, project mismanagement, and intercontinental mayhem. In his own words, it stood unsurpassed in his 30-year career. He hoped to never top it.
A Story Best Left Dead
For fear of angering Apple, Mike still asked to keep his name secret. He felt secure that any non-disclosure agreements had long since run out, confident that the Cards app had been put away a long time ago, and aware that the printing companies involved no longer really existed. Even so, he wanted his identity kept hidden.
What We Learn From This
A flash of inspiration gave birth to the Cards app, a vanity project with real ambition behind it. Letterpress printing on cotton stock, invisible barcodes, and international shipping all found their way into the design. Yet the management behind it was weak, and the printing company had to set up operations in the Czech Republic and Japan just to keep things running. The system depended on people checking each envelope against its invisible barcode by hand. That is an unreliable system.
This account serves as a warning that even the most powerful executives can devise plans that collapse spectacularly. It also shows that Apple, despite its polished image, carries a record of projects that were technically brilliant yet operationally disastrous.
Key Facts Box
- Launch: 2011
- Project code name: Speed Racer
- Card production: 100 percent cotton paper
- Letterpress presses: Restored Heidelberg Letterpresses from the 1850s
- International operations: Czech Republic, Japan
- Barcode system: Invisible, sprayed on envelopes, readable under UV light
What Apple Got Wrong
- Overconfidence in craftsmanship: The cards were printed on 100 percent cotton paper and letterpressed, but the project was managed as if it were a simple app.
- Misunderstanding scale: The printing company had to spin up several sister companies to handle the load, and international operations in the Czech Republic and Japan were required.
- Poor tracking: Apple wanted every step of shipping tracked without visible barcodes, which turned a robotic process into a manual one.
- No contingency: When cards were mis-sent, it became an emergency-level event from Apple, and the system was not infallible.
The Cards app has vanished from existence, and so have the printing companies behind it. The non-disclosure agreements may have run their course. Yet the cautionary tale remains, a warning about ambition, management, and the expense of vanity projects. The story endures as something worth remembering, especially when considering the sheer size of the collapse.
Source material: “Fifteen years later, the Apple Cards origin story,” lexontech.org.
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